ALL positions in the Presidents cabinet SERVE AT THE PLEASURE OF THE PRESIDENT.

I suppose you are going to tell us that Clinton's cabinet members never disagreed with him, or if they did, and Clinton said "No, We are going to do it another way", they stood up and refused their President.

Minden NV

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"Some see Powell as being courageous as the black, pro-life conservative, that holds HIS position amongst a bunch of right wing zealots. I see him as someone that has opinions, but too often puts them aside to fall in line. A politician like Powell is supposed to diversify the party, not turn around and say "Yes sir, boss" when the heat gets turned up." --------------------------------------------------------------------- I know the man personally, he is not either a right wing zealot nor someone who falls in line. He speaks his mind, and holds his position. What he does do, that all of us do, within our lives both personal and professional is compromise and follow the lawful orders of those appointed above him. When people make claims that Powell or for that matter anyone else "just backs down" or as you put it says ""Yes sir, boss" when the heat gets turned up", I have to laugh. ALL of us have our bosses or limitations to when our opinions and desires get set aside for those in position to make the final decision. If we did not live within these constraints and standards, nothing would ever get done. No buildings would be completed, no roads built, no crime investigated etc, etc.

Powell is just as good and decent a man as Obama. They have political differences, that is all. I respect both, but it appears to me that many on the left dismiss a person, as "evil" or a "liar" or an "Uncle Tom" just because they don't hold the same political beliefs. That is not tolerance, acceptance, nor understanding.

Yinyang, you say your an engineer, I have seen three engineers go at it concerning a project and how it was to be designed and completed. You cannot tell me that compromise does not take place and even after all agree on the compromise, they don't personally think theirs was the better way.

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There are 2 things that are missed here though.

1. Obama is unique, articulate, and a good candidate for President. He posses qualities that are rare in ALL people, not just blacks.

2. The qualities that he posesses are not nearly as rare among blacks as people (of any race) actually believe.

The thing that I believe that is missed is that there DOES exist a significant CLASS structure among black people. Some are rich, some are poor, some are inbetween. This diversity is overlooked by EVERYONE including black people. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- I concur, this misconception that Obama is unique and articulate, compared to other possible black candidates, I was having a hard time with. I like how you said in ALL people - lol. That is so true!

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yinyang,

I concur with you on what AA was meant to do and that white females have benefited the most from it. However the other comments were in response to another poster, not you, who did mock Powell, Thomas and Rice for being in their positions because he felt they were traitors to their race and turn coats who used AA for their personal benefit but now side against it.

It appears only Thomas benefited from AA action. Rice is a prodigy whose IQ, music talents and hard work provided her ascension in life. Powell was a legacy who worked his way through West Point and then the military with distinguished service. Thomas was an average student who used AA to help him get a decent education and a foot into the door of the legal world. Based on everything I have read both Powell & Rice support AA without the use of quotas. Only Thomas has made statements and written opinions that question whether AA is needed in today's society.

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Debjack,

I think yinyang was placing that in the context that Biden is white and his thoughts are not unique in relationship to many other whites.

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Yinyang,

Very nice points, and well said. I agree that there is still misunderstanding of most AA programs. I also concur that they are there to simply ensure that ALL qualified candidates be considered and that is why I support most AA programs.

The reason I do not like quotas is my experiences with them is they create tension and animosity among a work force, which does nothing for diversity but divide through suspicion and resentment.

Minden NV

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Um.. on a side note - I'm 2inVT, not SinVT. --------------------------------------------------------- OOPS......My apologies! I have done that several times.

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"Fact is, there aren't that many true liberals out there in the public discourse, and surely not that many in the Senate. There's a few - Feingold, Kennedy - and they certainly get identified as liberals by the media as often as, say, Orrin Hatch is called a conservative." --------------------------------------------------------------------- I think what Perfect is talking about is the same thing a 20/20 special with John Stossel pointed out. Stossel demonstrated that during formal congressional hearings, State of the Union addresses and the swearing in of public officials the media, uses two different ways to describe Democrats and Republicans. Stossel went over footage from 1980 through 2004. He used ABC, NBC and CBC as his references. Stossel's examples demonstrated that Peter Jennings when telling the home audience who the next person was walking in the door, he would describe the members differently. A Democrat was almost always "the Honorable Senator Kennedy from Mass." A Republican was described as either generic such as "The Republican Senator from....." or "The Conservative Senator from...." Several times the moderator used the term "The Ultra Conservative Senator from..."

Stossel's report found no republican's were referred to "The Honorable" or "The Distinguished" but many Democrats were. Stossel also could not find any Democrat being introduced as the "Liberal House Member or Liberal Senator from....."

The point is that although that is subtle, some would say that it shows bias. Personally, I believe it does send a message to the American people, some who see it quickly, some subliminally, that Republicans are less in the eyes of many in the media.

By the way, Stossel research was never challenged or disproved. Dan Rather and CBS acknowledged Stossel’s findings but claimed he and others were “reading to much into them”.

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As I stated in my original comment "Maybe I am wrong but I think Biden spoke with much the same "subconscious" institutionalized, NOT personal, racism that we all have varying levels of.", so I agree with you SinVT that it is not limited to Democrats or Republicans, that at some level we all still have institutionalized racism ingrained in us.

However, Biden is a Democrat and said it within the context of his political world. Therefore, it is important to define and clarify what he and, maybe others in his party believe. Open, honest questions without ridicule or finger pointing accusations should be made. Is Biden's support of Democrat policies one of lifting people, who are equal, up through programs that will educate and allow them to help themselves? Or programs that provide continuous handouts for people who they view as unable to help themselves, and therefore might be considered inferior? I don't KNOW the answers, but based on past and present policies and legislation that Democrats have passed or supported, I have my opinion. My opinion may be wrong but nobody is discussing the real issues to enlighten me.

Neither party has a great track record when dealing on the issue of race. The republicans tend to think Race is no longer an issue and Democrats have done nothing but tell minorities nothing is their fault and they need handouts. In my opinion both are wrong. However, Biden, being a Democrat, raises issues that need to be addressed by him and his party.